Back in July, Michaela Bowling set a new British Record for sidesaddle jumping. Now Susan Oakes, an Irish equestrian has set TWO new World Records by clearing a 6’8″ Puissance wall (2″ higher than the previous record) on SIEC Atlas, then switching horses and clearing a 6’5″ triple bar on SIEC Oberon.
It is hard to imagine what it would be like to canter a horse at jumps of that size. Even more amazing to ride a horse that would consider jumping it. And completely beyond the realm of reality to consider you might actually clear one.
Oakes is an accomplished point-to-point rider who only took up show jumping two years ago.
Since a sidesaddle rider cannot get off the horse’s back to allow full freedom of movement, this is more of an accomplishment than it seems! What a good horse
Years ago, I bought my daughter an antique sidesaddle — a birthday novelty for a horse girl from a horse family who has everything else horse . . . It sits upstairs on a wooden stand, on top of the Plantation saddle I also bought one year. (Heck, ‘down’ to five horses, from eight — let’s not start counting tack, shall we . . . ) We all tried the saddle, of course.
We nicknamed it the TWISTED saddle, because to ride it ‘properly’ you must twist your spine, uncomfortably, to keep your shoulders square to the horse, as if you were riding astride.
Although it was lots of fun to play around with, that was where the experiment ended. In snapshots and memories. Too impractical and uncomfortable to have used more than as a novelty. (Although, as an antique in our home, it is truly lovely!)
A neighbor, years ago, who did parades and such in a sidesaddle, rode a twenty-mile trail ride as a fundraiser for her mother’s cancer treatment. A life-long, highly accomplished equestrian, her back gave out at about mile nineteen — the sidesaddle pinched a nerve, and she was off horses for who-knows-how-long.
This is a BRAVE and fantastic horseperson to even attempt riding like this — with a WONDERFUL, willing horse.
Thanks for sharing this video!!!